New UK Passport Immigration CM

[ajnamoon]

Applied  for my new British  Passport  online (as my old one expires end of year} paid fee ,and posted my old one to Passport office in UK as required 

A few weeks later received my new Passport and old one cancelled 

 

Went to immigration to transfer my visa from old to new passport 

Big problems    .where is your letter from Embassy ?   why did you get a new passport ? how did you get back into Thailand.This passport looks like a COPY.again asked at least 6 times where is your letter from Embassy ???

 

Told them NO letter from Embassy as i applied online .and havent left country

 

I O said if you live in Thailand you MUST apply for new passport through your Embassy or agent in Thailand 

Took me three visits and an agent to resolve this 

So bottom line you MUST have a letter from UK Embassy to verify your passport 

Ajnamoon 

[brewsterbudgen]

I thought it was common knowledge, on this Forum at least, that UK passport renewals are processed by VFS in either Bangkok or Chiang Mai?  You retain your old passport until you collect the new one, when the corners are cut off the old one. You also get the Embassy letter to prove it's a genuine passport.  If you renew in the UK you use the new passport to enter Thailand, which means the Embassy letter is not required.  What possessed you to post your passport?

 

 

[tonray]

Posting passport to the UK meant you could have been in seriously deep .... had anyone needed to see your passport in an official capacity. No proof of legal status and possible arrest and deportation. Just the fact that your passport left the country might have made your permission to stay invalid. 

[howerde]

You might try contacting the British embassy in Bangkok, it seems they might provide the service, see below

Transferring your Thai visa after renewing your British passport

This service is available in person at VFS Bangkok or online and is free of charge.

The Immigration Bureau in Thailand may require a letter from the British Embassy in order for you to transfer your visa from your old to your new British passport.

1. VFS Bangkok will give you a template letter when you collect your new passport from their office. Alternatively the British Embassy Bangkok can post a template letter to you at an address in Thailand. To request this service send a message via our online contact form, giving the reason for your request along with your name and address.

2. Add your personal details by hand and submit the completed letter to the Immigration Bureau along with your passport(s).

 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/notarial-and-documentary-services-guide-for-thailand#services-we-cannot-provide

[Eff1n2ret]

Congratulations to the OP for succeeding in what many of us would like to do, which is avoid the convoluted process by which we are supposed to apply for a passport in Thailand. Did you use a courier? I wouldn't trust the Thai Post Office to deliver anything in our neck of the woods. It is true that legally you are supposed to have your passport with you at all times, but mine remains in my safe for the entire year between extensions except for rare events like Covid vaccinations, I never carry it when I'm travelling in Thailand, just have a copy on my phone along with current extension.

As others have said, the Embassy will supply a letter if you ask them. It's only required because provincial Immigration Offices wouldn't recognise a forged or counterfeit passport even if it had "fake" printed on the cover.

[NE1]

6 minutes ago, Eff1n2ret said:

It is true that legally you are supposed to have your passport with you at all times,

I used an agent to renew my passport ,and I didn't see the old passport for a month .

[OJAS]

The irony of the situation is that, since the OP appears to live in Chiang Mai, he would have been spared the worst excesses of the nightmare known as the With-It Tower Passport Renewal Experience, since VFS have an office there to which he could have simply toddled in order to submit this renewal application in person and then collect his new passport once HMPO had felt sufficiently bothered to issue it! He would have been spared the ordeal to which most of us Brits living in LOS are subject at passport renewal time of 2 lengthy and arduous trips to an office building located somewhere off the beaten track in Bangkok, which has consistently won the "Silliest Office Building Name Of The Year" award for countless consecutive years!

Edited March 30, 2022 by OJAS

[mvdf]

3 hours ago, ajnamoon said:

I O said if you live in Thailand you MUST apply for new passport through your Embassy or agent in Thailand 

 

Worst nonsense I ever read. He should be fired and sent back to his village as a wood chopper. 

 

Only country with such a requirement. The hypocrisy stinks to high heaven. Trying to portray a welcome! welcome! oh do come! approach towards foreigners but once they are here, the opposite attitude prevails.

 

Edited March 30, 2022 by mvdf

[Bangkok Barry]

2 hours ago, OJAS said:

arduous trips to an office building located somewhere off the beaten track in Bangkok

It's within a couple of hundred metres off of Sukhumvit between Nana and Asok, with a BTS station also within 200 metres or so. So why do you state that it's off the beaten track? I can only imagine you don't actually know where the building is but commented anyway. If you do know where it is and wrote that then it makes you look kind of stupid. It really couldn't be any less off the beaten track.

[garygooner]

1 hour ago, mvdf said:

Worst nonsense I ever read. He should be fired and sent back to his village as a wood chopper. 

He's not a wood chopper. He has some experience in tending chickens. 

[Eff1n2ret]

3 hours ago, NE1 said:

I used an agent to renew my passport ,and I didn't see the old passport for a month .

Which neatly reveals why the current convoluted system is such a nonsense. We should all be able to apply online, send in the expiring passport (keeping a copy) and receive the new one by secure carrier or registered mail. 

[Pmbkk]

4 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

I thought it was common knowledge, on this Forum at least, that UK passport renewals are processed by VFS in either Bangkok or Chiang Mai?  You retain your old passport until you collect the new one, when the corners are cut off the old one. You also get the Embassy letter to prove it's a genuine passport.  If you renew in the UK you use the new passport to enter Thailand, which means the Embassy letter is not required.  What possessed you to post your passport?

 

 

 

I've been reading this forum for over a decade & if I found I could renew my passport online directly that is the process I would have followed too.

 

Giving it to an agent to renew my British passport wouldn't have crossed my mind - or what I would have wanted. I may have asked the question as I've never had to do it  in Thailand. Done it in Zurich, whilst working.

 

Bottom line, I'd have done the same as this guy and may have got into the same situation, but then questioned why I need to involve an agent. I'd have spoken to the embassy, who should have supplied relevant process.

 

I also know the VFS building very well as I've been many times & live close by.

 

 

 

[TKDfella]

A while back I checked online renewal, which I thought was only available to those living in the UK. Seems I was wrong because I came across this Scottish Law company; https://www.mcgillandco.co.uk/blog/renewing-british-passports-from-abroad-what-do-i-need-to-know.html. Along with other tips they point out;

'Upon submitting an application for a new passport, you will be required to submit your current document. This may seem obvious, but it is worth keeping in mind that you could be waiting several months where you will be without a passport. It may be worth sourcing an alternative document to evidence your ID for use during the interim. Sending a passport overseas can be something of a nightmare in of itself. Make sure you use a service which includes some form of insurance in case of loss.'

So one has to use some carrier from Thailand to send the current passport to the UK which is what one would do when using VFS via an agent. So why not use an agent...at least the passport stays in Thailand.

[blackshadow]

2 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

It's within a couple of hundred metres off of Sukhumvit between Nana and Asok, with a BTS station also within 200 metres or so. So why do you state that it's off the beaten track? I can only imagine you don't actually know where the building is but commented anyway. If you do know where it is and wrote that then it makes you look kind of stupid. It really couldn't be any less off the beaten track.

it is down soi 13

[ajnamoon]

Ok So several issues have been raised here 

To renew with VFS   takes about 10 weeks Doing online passports returned within three weeks from UK

I have been living in thailand for quite a few years now and have NEVER carried my original passport with me unless planning to travel  Have checked with a lawyer and have been told as long as you carry  photocopy of you passport 

 

To get a verified copy of your passport you need to send your original passport  and copy of rental agreement along with £25 fee plus £2 postage 

 

I did get a letter to verify my new passport  with British Embassy  logo and address  but NOT from Embassy from agent 

[brewsterbudgen]

1 hour ago, ajnamoon said:

Ok So several issues have been raised here 

To renew with VFS   takes about 10 weeks Doing online passports returned within three weeks from UK

I have been living in thailand for quite a few years now and have NEVER carried my original passport with me unless planning to travel  Have checked with a lawyer and have been told as long as you carry  photocopy of you passport 

 

To get a verified copy of your passport you need to send your original passport  and copy of rental agreement along with £25 fee plus £2 postage 

 

I did get a letter to verify my new passport  with British Embassy  logo and address  but NOT from Embassy from agent 

It might take "up to" 10 weeks to renew a UK passport in Thailand at the moment, but that's relatively recently and Covid-related.  Prior to Covid, it only took around 3 weeks.  

[Mac Mickmanus]

6 hours ago, mvdf said:

Worst nonsense I ever read. He should be fired and sent back to his village as a wood chopper. 

 

Only country with such a requirement. The hypocrisy stinks to high heaven. Trying to portray a welcome! welcome! oh do come! approach towards foreigners but once they are here, the opposite attitude prevails.

 

Isnt it true and correct though ?

To get a new UK Passport in Thailand, you need to either apply at the embassy or apply at an agency (VFS) ?

[Mac Mickmanus]

3 hours ago, Eff1n2ret said:

Which neatly reveals why the current convoluted system is such a nonsense. We should all be able to apply online, send in the expiring passport (keeping a copy) and receive the new one by secure carrier or registered mail. 

I do believe that the reason as to why they want you to apply in person, is to make sure that you are still alive and that theres not someone else applying on your behalf when you are dead 

[Mac Mickmanus]

7 hours ago, Eff1n2ret said:

Congratulations to the OP for succeeding in what many of us would like to do, which is avoid the convoluted process by which we are supposed to apply for a passport in Thailand. Did you use a courier? I wouldn't trust the Thai Post Office to deliver anything in our neck of the woods. It is true that legally you are supposed to have your passport with you at all times, but mine remains in my safe for the entire year between extensions except for rare events like Covid vaccinations, I never carry it when I'm travelling in Thailand, just have a copy on my phone along with current extension.

As others have said, the Embassy will supply a letter if you ask them. It's only required because provincial Immigration Offices wouldn't recognise a forged or counterfeit passport even if it had "fake" printed on the cover.

I don't think that the British Embassy would provide a letter of you asked them .

   Letters are only provided when they issue you a new Passport and I dint think they supply them on request  .

[Mac Mickmanus]

9 hours ago, ajnamoon said:

Took me three visits and an agent to resolve this 

So bottom line you MUST have a letter from UK Embassy to verify your passport 

Ajnamoon 

Did you get everything sorted out and how much did you pay an agent ?

[patman30]

iirc
the embassy no longer offer renewal service
which is why you now go to VFS building
i have renewed my passport 5 times here
but never once needed a letter to get my visa switched over

although first time they questioned me
why did i come to Thailand to renew my passport?
cheaper here?
 

[Mac Mickmanus]

19 minutes ago, patman30 said:

iirc
the embassy no longer offer renewal service
which is why you now go to VFS building
i have renewed my passport 5 times here
but never once needed a letter to get my visa switched over

although first time they questioned me
why did i come to Thailand to renew my passport?
cheaper here?
 

When was the last time that you renewed your PP?

Going from recollection, the Embassy letter only became a requirement about 7 years ago , prior to that , it wasn't required/given

[Bangkok Barry]

2 hours ago, blackshadow said:

it is down soi 13

Yes, about 200 metres down. Hardly the boondocks, so why OJAS said it is off the beaten track is beyond me and proves he has never been there, so I have no idea why he commented at all. Weird.

[Mac Mickmanus]

3 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Yes, about 200 metres down. Hardly the boondocks, so why OJAS said it is off the beaten track is beyond me and proves he has never been there, so I have no idea why he commented at all. Weird.

Its actually located right in the middle of central Bangkok , within walking distance of Pratnuman , World trade center and Nana Plaza and Sukhamavit .

   Couldnt get any more "central"

 

[Kalasin Jo]

9 hours ago, tonray said:

Posting passport to the UK meant you could have been in seriously deep .... had anyone needed to see your passport in an official capacity. No proof of legal status and possible arrest and deportation. Just the fact that your passport left the country might have made your permission to stay invalid. 

Thanks! I wondered why a British passport cannot be renewed from Thailand  using the online and by post service ( or in the OPs case should not have been) as it can be from say France these days.

So it's the requirement that as a foreigner in Thailand you must carry, or at least have in your possession, your passport and an Embassy letter for a renewal or extension stamp transfer to satisfy Thai Immigration it is genuine. I thought it was some British quirk! Silly me.TiT of course.

In the past I've renewed, admittedly outside Thailand, but not in the UK and had no problems getting my extension of stay transferred from the old to the new, simply by presenting the old and the new to Immigration here. The old passport had not expired, it was simply full of stamps.

 

Strangely though, France also requires foreigners to be in possession of their passports both as tourists and technically as residents as any residency card or application for one is linked to that passport. Yet a British passport renewal online and by post does not seem to be a problem with French Immigration, police or other authorities there. Brits in France use the online service all the time. There is no other way to do it there these days other than in person in the UK.

[ajnamoon]

If you check British Embassy website  you will see under notary services verification of British passport £25 plus £2 postage send original passport and tenancy agreement 

 

Passport last renewed 10 years ago 

 

Yes all sorted now visa agent 500 baht  for Embassy Letter 

 

Staff were quite adamant  3 different IOs   no letter no visa transfer 

 

i got the impression that had Not seen the new Black British passport before 

[ubonjoe]

8 hours ago, ajnamoon said:

If you check British Embassy website  you will see under notary services verification of British passport £25 plus £2 postage send original passport and tenancy agreement 

That is for a certified copy of your passport.

For the letter to have your stamps transferred is here on the embassy website and it is free.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/notarial-and-documentary-services-guide-for-thailand#transferring-your-thai-visa-after-renewing-your-british-passport

[Red Forever]

17 hours ago, Eff1n2ret said:

Congratulations to the OP for succeeding in what many of us would like to do, which is avoid the convoluted process by which we are supposed to apply for a passport in Thailand. Did you use a courier? I wouldn't trust the Thai Post Office to deliver anything in our neck of the woods. It is true that legally you are supposed to have your passport with you at all times, but mine remains in my safe for the entire year between extensions except for rare events like Covid vaccinations, I never carry it when I'm travelling in Thailand, just have a copy on my phone along with current extension.

As others have said, the Embassy will supply a letter if you ask them. It's only required because provincial Immigration Offices wouldn't recognise a forged or counterfeit passport even if it had "fake" printed on the cover.

The passport renewal procedure at Trendy building BKK in not convoluted. Book an appointment online, take all required docs, photos and card details for payment. 10 minutes later, job done. I did this twice in last 10 years. First one took 11 days to return, second passport took 10 days.

No problem, no hassle if the guidelines are followed.

[Mac Mickmanus]

4 minutes ago, Red Forever said:

The passport renewal procedure at Trendy building BKK in not convoluted. Book an appointment online, take all required docs, photos and card details for payment. 10 minutes later, job done. I did this twice in last 10 years. First one took 11 days to return, second passport took 10 days.

No problem, no hassle if the guidelines are followed.

 

   Yes, I found them to be extremely efficient and helpful  , checked all my forms were filled out correctly and allowed my to submit my papers six hours before my scheduled appointment time and the staff were also rather pleasant as well , couldnt ask for  more  

[thaiflyer1]

18 hours ago, NE1 said:

I used an agent to renew my passport ,and I didn't see the old passport for a month .

Think you/ll find the old passport was sat in the agents office for the month.............i renewed mine in November after waiting a few days for them to take it to Bangkok i called into the agents office and picked the old passport up.........the new landed 8 weeks later.